Millennium Food-Tech LP (TASE: MIFT) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with an American real estate company to establish a Food-Tech Innovation Center in the US.
As part of the Food-Tech Innovation Center, which will be established in Philadelphia, Millennium Food-Tech's portfolio companies will be granted spacious offices in which to work, together with office, logistics and storage services. At the same time, the companies will receive support and assistance in entering the US market - a market that over the past few years has begun eagerly adopting innovative food-tech solutions, which makes it crucially important for Israeli food-tech companies. The support and assistance will include referrals to lawyers, patent attorneys, accountants and other logistical service providers specializing in the field.
The rationale behind the establishment of the Food-Tech Innovation Center is that almost of the entire process of entering the American market for an early stage foreign company is not always smooth and easy, and an innovation center like this, operating in partnership with an American company, will ease the path of food-tech companies attempting to conquer the US market and the major potential that it holds.
The company with which Millennium Food-Tech will establish the innovation center is SkyREM, a privately-held real estate company, which has an extensive portfolio of real estate assets of various types throughout the US. The company has offices in Philadelphia and New York, and the size of its assets amounts to just over six million square feet. A major part of SkyREM's activities involve building and operating logistics centers.
The Food-Tech Innovation Center will be built and paid for by SkyREM on a site that it owns, and will provide Millennium Food-Tech's portfolio companies with services, free-of-charge and without rental payments, for a period of 12 months - a sufficient amount of time to allow the initial entry into the US market. In addition, SkyREM plans to examine the possibility of itself investing in Millennium Food-Tech's portfolio companies that will be using the innovation center.
Millennium Food-Tech, managed by CEO Chanan Schneider, focuses on companies operating in the following areas: personally tailored nutrition, protein alternatives, reduced food waste and leftovers, smart packaging, artificial intelligence and new food ingredients. The company has raised NIS 94 million to date. The Partnership's portfolio current includes five companies: SavorEat, which has developed technology for producing meat alternatives from plant based ingredients and is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE); Phytolon, which is engaged in natural food coloring R&D for the food industry; Tipa, which develops, manufactures and markets compostable packaging designed for the flexible packaging market; TripleW, which converts food waste into renewable bio-plastic; and Yofix Probiotics, which develops, manufactures and sells plant based dairy alternatives.
As of June 30, 2021, Millennium had free cash reserves for investment of NIS 40 million, which is mainly set aside for making additional investments. Just a few days ago, the Partnership announced that it is working to raise more capital through a private placement. The Partnership had already received investment commitments totaling NIS 18 million. Millennium Food-Tech said that it is examining expanding the amount that it is raising.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 1, 2021
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